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The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series will stage a triple-crown mini-championship in 2012. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Grand-Am confirms North American Endurance Championship for 2012 - Autoweek

November 8, 2011

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As Autoweek first reported in August, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series will indeed stage a triple-crown mini-championship in 2012, the series announced on Wednesday. Grand-Am also released its 2012 Rolex Series schedule.

The inaugural North American Endurance Championship will feature the 50th-anniversary running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 28-29, the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen International on June 29-July 1 and the Rolex Series' inaugural three-hour race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27 during what it and NASCAR have dubbed the "Super Weekend at the Brickyard." The Indy race will be part of NASCAR's Brickyard 400 weekend.

The 13-race schedule also includes Grand-Am's first visit to Detroit on June 2, and the return to many of North America's premier circuits, including Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal; Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.; Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio; Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala.; Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida; New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, N.J., and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., will host the season finale at the end of September.

"This is without a doubt the strongest schedule in Grand-Am history," Grand-Am president Tom Bledsoe said. "Highlights are everywhere you look . . . new races, new places and a new three-race championship. We're going to make a lot of sports-car history in 2012."

Teams in both the Daytona Prototype and production-based GT classes will compete in the North American Endurance Championship. Grand-Am said it will soon announce the points structure and prize purse for the championship. Awards for the championship will be presented at dusk on the victory podium at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, following the race on the 2.605-mile road course.

According to Grand-Am, several top teams have indicated that they will field additional cars with all-star drivers to compete in the triple-crown championship races.

"I think the North American Endurance Championship adds more excitement to an already exciting schedule," four-time Rolex Series Daytona Prototype champion Scott Pruett said. "The Rolex 24 is clearly the highlight of our season, and I'm very excited with the addition of Indianapolis. The new championship gives further emphasis on our three endurance races."

The Rolex Series will next season combine twice with NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series--at Indy and at Watkins Glen--and with the Nationwide Series at Road America and at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Two Rolex Series events will be companion races with the Izod IndyCar Series, at Detroit and at Barber.

The Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will run in conjunction with the Rolex Series at 10 of the 13 weekends, including Indianapolis.

2012 Rolex Series Schedule

(Dates listed are for event weekends, excluding the Daytona, Indianapolis and Detroit races. Remaining specific race days for each series will be announced in the near future.)